The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified symptoms of the virus as being influenza-like, including a sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headache and sore throat. This is usually followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases, both internal and external bleeding.

Transmission of the virus has been linked to close contact with the bodily fluids of infected animals, specifically fruit bats which can carry the virus and still be unaffected by it. Once infected, a human can also infect another human through the same close contact of bodily fluids, including blood and semen.

Currently, there is no remedy or vaccine for the virus.

The Current Spread

Discovered in 1976, the Ebola virus has remained a concern to Central and West African countries, but 2014 is the year in which the largest outbreak of the virus occurred, prompting Liberia to warn of a “global pandemic.”

In February 2014, an Ebola virus outbreak took place in Guinea and soon spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria, becoming a full-fledged epidemic in Africa.